Thousands of family doctors and paediatricians staged an indefinite strike in Madrid’s 430 health centres on Monday, protesting working conditions.
The first strike day Monday saw some 4,240 family doctors and 720 paediatricians attend.
Saving primary care is one of the main focuses of the strike, according to sources of health union Amyts that accuse Madrid’s health authorities of refusing to increase funding for primary care in the region.
“The underfunding and lack of staff have caused a continuous deterioration (of primary care)”, with 20% of the staff not covered with (…) an overload of care, the head of Primary Care Services at Amyts, Maria Justicia, stressed.
According to Amyts sources, Madrid is among the regions with the least primary care doctors per capita, with just 0.69 per 1,000 inhabitants. While the Balearic Islands just had 0.61 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, Castilla and León topped the charts with 1.12 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants.
“We can no longer cope with this level of stress; the situation is unbearable”, several health professionals bemoaned.
Data from the Spanish Health Ministry revealed that Madrid is the Spanish region with the second lowest health expenditure level per inhabitant (€ 1,521.8). however, only €162.2 were spent on primary care (10.6% of the total), she added.
Regional health sources confirmed that health centres in Madrid will continue service at a minimum level, with four or more doctors, two family doctors and a paediatrician per shift.
As a condition to stop their action, doctors and nurses demand “a limitation of the daily lists to 30-31 patients per doctor and 21 in paediatrics. To spend (at least) ten minutes per patient (instead of the current six), and that all vacancies currently open be filled (…)”.
(Juliana Leao-Coelho | EFE)
Source: euractiv.com
